 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Teacher disciplined in haircutting
By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- A teacher accused of helping to forcibly cut the hair of a 14-year-old student has been disciplined, and a teacher's aide who was involved has quit. Hillsborough school officials said Wednesday that no employee should cut a student's hair without parental permission. But they denied the student's contention that he was held down while his hair was cut against his will. Alan Sandler, the student's attorney, stands by his client's story. "He didn't sit there and let them do this," he said. School officials said a letter of reprimand will be placed in teacher Elaine Hamilton's personnel file for her "poor decision-making and unprofessional behavior" in the December haircut of Marcqueez Beal at Progress Village Middle School. She also must complete a professionalism and integrity course. Teacher's aide Charlotte Mathis resigned Monday, citing personal reasons, after school officials completed their investigation. School officials declined to release the investigative report because Beal's family has notified the district of its plans to sue. Neither Hamilton nor Mathis could be reached for comment. Beal, a seventh-grader, said he was sitting in social studies class Dec. 19 when he was summoned to a timeout room and confronted by Hamilton and Mathis. He said the two women forced him to the ground and told him his hair was too long. As one anchored his feet and straddled his body, he said, the other cut off several inches of his fluffy Afro with a pair of scissors. Beal said he had grown his hair for months to be more like the biblical character Samson, who derived his strength from his long locks. He now keeps his hair short, fearing someone at school will try to cut it again, he said. According to the letter of reprimand to Hamilton from Linda Kipley, Hillsborough's director of professional standards, the teacher denied touching the student or cutting his hair. She did, however, say she observed Mathis cutting the boy's hair. "You stated that the reason you never intervened when you saw the aide cutting the student's hair was due to the fact you did not feel he was in danger or being harmed, and that you truly felt the mother had given permission for his hair to be cut," the letter said. Critical of the school district's slow response to the haircutting, Sandler said he is pleased that officials have at least acknowledged that it happened. But he questioned Hamilton's reprimand. "I don't think it's adequate punishment," he said. "Not at all." Sandler said the district has until June to respond to the family's claim. Otherwise, he plans to pursue a lawsuit. No criminal charges have been filed, but the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office is investigating. Records show that Hamilton, 42, has been a teacher at Progress Village for the past year. She previously worked at the Tampa Street School and the East Tampa Christian Academy. Mathis, 49, has worked for Hillsborough schools since 1994, serving as an aide, substitute teacher, custodian and food service worker. -- Melanie Ave can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
